The Danger of Disposable Income

I FINALLY FOUND THE NEW CELESTIAL SEASONINGS TEAS AT TARGET! If you're searching for them in your store: look everywhere except the tea aisle. Ours were not even close to the other teas. It was on a random display at the end of an aisle (but like, in the aisle) across from the oatmeal?! Such a weird place to have them and basically impossible to find. I just happened to stumble across them after already giving up, haha. Anywayy... this strawberry champagne one is good! Unsurprisingly, it basically just tastes like strawberry black tea. But it's good!

Also, Mike and I hit up 2 new breweries in our area! They were both awesome.

And then I forced him to stop for donuts... the colossal ones from Shoppers. mmmmm. Side note: if you have a craving for donuts (and aren't particular about where you get them) you should totally hit up a grocery store! These were GIGANTIC and only $0.69/donut. If we had gone to Dunkin' Donuts (which was literally next door) we would have paid $0.99/donut for ones like, half the size. #NOTsavingmoneyinyourtwenties

Also I just realized that we got a St. Patty's donut 5 days after St. Patty's day... I'm going to hope these were made fresh yesterday and hadn't just been sitting out for 5 days.. yikes

Third: I'm continuing to go through survey responses from new email subscribers (see, if you sign up for my email list, you can fill out these answers, too! ;) ) and found another response that inspired a post. In the survey, I ask, "What is your biggest frustration/concern regarding your finances right now?"

The response that really interested me was:

"I recently moved back home to save money so I can buy a house, but I since that goal is so far off, I think I am spending more on clothes and other novelties than I was before, since I have more "disposable" income."

-- Victoria

Here are my thoughts on this dilemma:

1 // Track your money. Duh.

This will surprise approximately no one but here's my biggest answer to this: Track your money!!! I know, I seriously say this all the time, but I say it for a reason. It's the best thing you can do for your finances!

I do understand where you're coming from; it's hard to have so much disposable income because it's just so tempting to spend it on minor things. But tracking your money and reviewing how much you spent at the end of the month will show you just how much money is going towards things like clothes and other novelties, and that will probably be enough to scare you into shaping up :)

(but actually, Victoria does track her income so we need to move on to some heavier duty tactics!!)

2 // Mini-goals.

My second suggestion is to set mini-goals for yourself. Make sure they're challenging, but not so challenging that you won't be able to accomplish them.

Let's say you're trying to save $20,000 in the next two years. $20,000/24 months = $833 per month.

Now stop paying attention to that big $20,000 goal. Just focus on a monthly goal of $833. I find it's much easier to achieve goals when they're smaller and for a shorter time period.

Or you can break the big goal into smaller chunks and focus on those as individual steps. So just focus on saving the first $5,000 at this point. Once that's completed, focus on saving another $5,000.

3 // Bribe yourself.

Set a reward for achieving that mini-goal for a certain time period. So, for example, if you achieve the goal of saving $833 each month for 4 months in a row, or you reach your $5,000 mini-goal, promise yourself some sort of reward (cheap/free, preferably, so you don't completely derail your good spending habits).

Make it something that really excites you and keeps you on track for those 4 months. Examples: spending a day in Barnes & Noble reading whatever you want with coffee and no time limit; $20 to spend however you wish at Target; a day to binge watch whatever you want on Netflix without feeling like a bum (you earned it, after all!); a trip to your favorite brewery and a really big, possibly 5-day-old donut from Shoppers (ahem... see above); etc. Whatever makes you happy and would keep you on track to accomplish your goals.

4 // BUDGET! No, but really.

The final thing I would suggest is putting yourself on a budget (oh heyyyy, I can help with that!!), so that you really stick to your desired spending levels and have enough left each month to put into savings for your goal. But be sure that your budget isn't unrealistic. Leave enough money for "fun" things each month, because cutting fun out of your life is an almost guarantee that you will NOT accomplish your goals (and will instead go off the deep end with your spending because you've felt so deprived).

Oh, and did I mention that Budget Coaching inclues a lil' something I like to call the "Savings Tracker" to keep yourself on track as you save up for big goals? Yup. It does. Also a "Debt Repayment Tracker" to keep yourself on track as you pay off big things. You're welcome :)

How do you handle disposable income?

Are you tempted to spend it all instead of putting it towards your goals?